ashley: good afternoon, everyone. i am ashley webster. shibani: iam shibani joshi. we have weak data piling on. ashley: energy prices down big again today. shibani: another dire warning on the sequester. the president proposing the largest infusion of new spending since the 2009 new stimulus. we will have lou dobbs weighing in on that.

ashley: the very latest on the whiteout conditions in the midwest. look at that. we will tell you where this brutal storm is headed next. good afternoon. time for stocks now. there has been a slew of economic data driving the action. consumer prices rising three tenths of a percent last month. that is the biggest jump since may 2011. the philly fed index showing a new fracturing contracted for the second straight month. nicole: hinting that this evening that we have seen with

stimulus could be taken away at some point. the weak economic news. you have europe. that is still a big problem. we talked about weak gdp there. we are seeing a euro that is stronger. when you look at the pics, spiking today for a second straight day. it has been above the 15 mark. it is actually at 1577 write-down. this is the first time we have seen that since january. tough economic news pulls us back. that is where we are. nowhere near the all-time highs at the moment. ashley: thank you so much. shibani: we watched the markets. another developing story, yet another obama administration

member warning about the fallout of the spending cuts. the clock keeps ticking down to the march 1 deadline. rich edson has the very latest. rich: good afternoon, shibani. highlighting the dangers of the automatic spending cuts. president obama is trying to get people in congress to try to agree to taxes on wealthier people. the law requires the administration to cut other positions. in a statement, the beef association rights, this place has a legal duty on the usda and administration to carry out this service. a duty in which we have recognized as essential in the past. while we understand the hardships placed on the agencies

through sequestration, we are severely disappointed secretary millsap has chosen to take his path of threatening to halt and speculations. if not you have to give notice. you can only implement this caught in a really short window. there are not that many nonessential people that you could lay off for three months to avoid having to deal with the inspectors. rich: there is little movement in congress to avoid these cuts. shibani: we know this is a very heated topic. what about us? coming up, lou dobbs will join

us to weigh in on this heated topic. he will weigh in specifically on the push for more spending. you will not want to miss that. ashley: oil prices slammed for a second straight day with crude hitting its lowest level in more than a month. phil flynn in the pits of the cme with the latest. is it the latest inventory report to blame? >> you have to look at the strong dollar. you also have to look that u.s. oil production did the highest level in almost 20 years. it is absolutely incredible. a couple days ago, everyone was talking about $100 a barrel. now they are wondering if $90 will hold. the april futures just hit $93, as i speak. inventories, of course, rose.

it was on the increase in production. a decrease on imports. that really impacted the market. that is good news for gasoline prices. they got hit very hard. the gas inventories fell. that was a bigger drawdown in gasoline. because of the strong dollar, that is keeping that market very strong. heating oil, they do not seem to care. the other big numbers today, natural gas. a drawdown aided in expected. it gave natural gas a little bit of a boost today. we could see a bigger drawdown than expected next week. ashley: phil flynn of price future group. thank you so much. shibani: buckle up for more volatility, it sounds like. take a look at what is happening to the national price of gas.

it is up there descent from a month ago. this is refinery plants across the country. they are facing repairs and conversion projects. warpaint at the pump. the details from a refinery in indiana. what exactly is happening there, jeff? jeff: at this refinery, they are in the middle of a $4 billion plan to convert to be able to process more canadian crude. it is a bp oil refinery. that could eventually bring prices down. they have had to shut down part of the refinery. you see the run-up. many refineries around the nation have had either maintenance, scheduled maintenance programs or shutdowns. you take a look at the one-year

chart. right now, the roller coaster is headed up. take a look at the map around the country. it is not just this refinery here. that refinery in new jersey will be shut permanently. they had one down in port arthur, texas. i just talked to fill before we went on the air. he has learned that that could be restarting soon. that could be a positive there. they have had problems on the west coast, as well. i want to show you a couple of stocks before we get away. it makes a lot of sense to be a refiner right now. their margins are up. their margins windup improving. bolero, for example, of 30%, this stock year today. an increase in earnings will be 226% when they report next. i will leave you with this -- do

not be in explorer or a producer. shibani: we are seeing this disconnect with what is happening with oil prices and what we are actually seeing at the pump. stay warm, jeff flock. jeff: i am trying. shibani: has rock city hit rock bottom? rick jones will join us with what he thinks needs to be done to save the motor city from collapse. ashley: speaking of financial trouble, the man who led greece when its economy eventually was created, he has a job. details coming up. ♪

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shibani: get ready for it. moving coast to coast a winter storm now hammering places like kansas and nebraska. where is it heading next? we have the very latest. should i be getting my snow boots out for the weekend? >> that definitely depends on where you live. a lot of whether going on this afternoon. heavy snow continues to fall right around the st. louis area. that being mixed in with some sleep there. we are getting reports of anywhere from nine-11 inches already right around the kansas city area. this is an ice storm.

very slippery conditions around springfield. that is likely to continue. the words of this storm likely to occur along i-34. that will slowly start to creep north. the storm will continue to track off to the north and east as we head into the course of tonight. we will see heavy snow up towards des moines. this will eventually advance into chicago during the late-night hours. we are looking at three-6 inches before that tapers off tomorrow. we are expecting some lingering snow into parts of wisconsin and illinois tomorrow. back over to shibani. shibani: thank you. my warm jacket and my mittens will be out for sure. thanks a lot. ashley: greeks former prime minister has a new job.

electra at columbia university. guess what he is teaching them. how to govern during a financial crisis. he is more than educated on that. he led the push for several bailouts. he ruled for two years. greece's economy still in recession. a socialist leader who did not have the best record in greece. shibani: what will he possibly teach those students? what not to do when you run a country. do the opposite of everything. ashley: my question is, how did you let it get to that? shibani: it is a generational problem. it is time to get a check on the

market. nicole petallides is on the floor of the new york stock exchange. you are watching some big tech names. nicole: the first would be apple. we follow apple and we watch it high and low. right now, it near the lows of the session. david einhorn of green line capital has been very vocal about trying to return some of that cash to the shareholder. this will be something that we are following throughout the afternoon. google, now a lot of the analysts are putting out targets for thousands of dollars. back to you. shibani: sometimes those price targets come to bite you. we have to watch that. hundreds of u.s. companies, facebook, apple, twitter, following prey to hackers. how can you protect yourself? we will have that coming up..3 ashley: up in arms about spending cuts.

i think it is time for lou dobbs. let's take a look at how the u.s. dollar is faring today. maybe explain the drop in commodity prices. most of these currencies are down against the dollar. especially the euro. we will be right back. ♪ [ male announcer ] at his current pace, bob will retire when he's 153, which would be fine if bob were a vampire. but he's not.

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>> 20 minutes past the hour. here is your fox news minute. a car bombing killing 53 and injuring more than 200 in damascus. it is the third day of urban attacks by robles in the syrian capital. police right now are looking for a black range rover that was involved in a gun battle on the vegas trip that left three people dead and more injured.

the maza roddy crashed into a taxi at the corner of flamingo in las vegas. both of the drivers and eight -- a passenger were killed. investigators in kansas city are trying to find out why tuesday night deadly explosion occurred. authorities recovering one body, but have not yet determined if it is the missing female restaurant employees last seen before that boss. those are your headlines at this hour. back to shibani. shibani: thank you very much, jamie. good to see you. the alarm over the $85 billion in what it called devastating spending cuts. today, it was agriculture secretary warning of the dire consequences. should the automatic spending cuts hit on march the first. at the same time, the president

is calling on congress for $50 billion in infrastructure spending. he is trying to spend money, at the same time, trying to make spending cuts. lou: i cannot make sense of this man. i cannot make sense of his values. remember, this is the guy, last year he said they would not be a sequester. all those republicans who wanted to eliminate the sequester. no, we are going to look forward. here we are. there is no way to rationalize this. this is stupid policy.

it is his little vehicle and he gets to have all the fun. ashley: the agriculture -- we will all get it because the inspectors will not be there to protect the food. lou: all of us in the media need to explain that this is a dog and pony show. it is like we are all around the campfire. everyone has been assigned in the administration. this is 2%. 2% of spending. 800,000 federal employees. one day a week for 20 weeks.

this is outrageous. this is not leadership. this is childish. it is pitiful. shibani: here is what i have a beef with. president obama has come out as a champion. these cuts that he is talking about, they are exactly targeting these people he says he is the guardian and keeper of lou: he also says that the problem is not spending. he says his administration is the most transparent. he just put a 2% payroll tax back on them on january 1. for him to say he is not taxing the middle class, this man has just dropped a load on the back of every working man and woman in this country.

it is silly. it did not work in 2011. the jobs act is a joke. the president knows better than to play these games. what is really offensive is he sits up there and looks into the camera and during the state of the union he says i know you want to support this because i know you want the jobs in your district. he is talking pork, folks. that is not the reason for and infrastructure investment. it is a payoff. it is that simple. it is not going to happen. shibani: is it about the timing more than anything else?

it could use an upgrade, certainly. lou: take new york, for example. we have a mayor more concerned about the size of a soft drink than the size of a paul all. i am telling you, that is city money that is supposed to be going there. that is state money that is supposed to be going elsewhere. this is dumb. it gets really embarrassing. i am absolutell befuddled by then. the best we can do is agree for the country. shibani: they always understated lou dobbs.

ashley: always. shibani: you can see lou dobbs here every day at this time and, of course, on his show every evening. tonight you can catch a congressman from california. lou: why doesn't he fix it? ashley: lou, thank you very much. getting paid more than the boss. the staggering numbers of city workers. they are breaking in more than governor gerri brown. shibani: what may be good for general motors may not be good for the home of the u.s. auto industry. rick jones on this story. we will tackle this issue next. ♪

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shibani: it is 31 past the hour. time now for stocks as we do every 15 minutes. let's head to the floor of the new york stock exchange and our own nicole petallides. nicole, seems like, while we were at dow 14,000, seems like we hit a little bit of a ceiling there. what are the traders on the floor saying about that? >> it is interesting, we're not too far off from the all-time highs, shibani. if you talk to traders, we set new all-time highs since 2007. a pullback is to be expected. the question is whether or

not we'll be heading back to the 14,000 mark. i'm not getting a vibe we will be. a lot of guys think this is the pullback that they have been waiting for to a certain extent. i wanted to also talk a look at a name and look at wal-mart in particular. wal-mart has a couple of headlines we need it focus on. a look at the stock, that is up 2.7%. you can talk about wal-mart raising the dividend that is something that helps it along. they have seen weakness in sales overall. they sent out a memo customers worried about slow sales tax refund and high gas prices. they do seem to be comfortable with the outlook. raising the dividend doesn't hurt. shibani: it certainly doesn't. a lot about taxes in the earnings report. a lot we're hearing across the markets as a subject matter. nicole we'll check back when you in a now moments.

ashley: detroit in an uproar. after a state appointed review team determined that detroit is in a financial emergency. is this the only way to save the motor city? that is certainly what my next guest believes. state senator rick jones is joining me now. senator jones, thank you. what can an emergency manager do to turn things around and at least help detroit avoid bankruptcy and why does the mayor and city council oppose having a sit manager? >> i have nothing but respect for detroit mayor bing, but however the city council is obstructive. i think they're part of the reason the city is in so much trouble. but they have currently almost 15 billion, billion with a b, in unfunded liability. about half of that in pensions. they simply don't have the money coming in to take care of this problem. they have done all the gimmicks, the one-time fixes. they borrowed money to make payments. it has to stop. they're in deep trouble.

i believe an emergency manager has a chance of turning the city around. he is going to have to make drastic cuts. they're going to have to look laying people off and probably cutting salaries and benefits. doing everything possible. this is their last chance. the next step is bankruptcy. ashley: that's good but look, detroit's population drop has been quite alarming from 1.8 million, down to 700,000. that is a big tax base that picked up and left. can you make that up with just cutting spending and cutting salaries? >> well, if it were up to me i would dissolve the city of detroit. i would shrink it, to a size that could work. there is a size out there, that could be a very vibrant detroit that would go into the future. a city to be very proud of. they currently have too much land mass for the population. in my opinion they need to shrink. ashley: talking of detroit,

look the federal government bailed out gm. should the federal government do something to help detroit? >> absolutely not. the city council called for a bailout. i think that is ridiculous. the tracks payers should not bail out the city. i will not vote to take money from my constituents in mid-city michigan to bail out the city. they need to handle their own problem or go bankrupt. ashley: what is amazing, senator jones, the new data, half of detroit's property owners haven't paid taxes. to me that sound like greece. how did that happen? >> you have some urban blight there. there hasn't been enough enforcement. that needs to move ahead today too. that is something a emergency manager could get ahold of. ashley: the theory, if detroit files bankruptcy that it could affect the creditworthiness of other cities across the state. is that a very real threat, do you think. >> it is always a threat,

but you know what are the other ramifications? do the taxpayers suddenly bail them out? how many other cities are going to spend money like this if they think they will be bailed out? i'm for no more bailouts. let's control the problem. get emergency manager in there and take control immediately. the governor under this plan has up to 30 days. and i'm urging him to act immediately. ashley: we wish you the very best of luck. state senator rick jones. thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. >> thank you. ashley: wow. shibani: well, apparently it pays to work for the city of san francisco. how do we get a job here? check this out. 572 city workers made more than the governor of california, jerry brown, last year. with his salary topping 173 plus. and more than 1500 workers made more than california attorney general karmala harris who brings home about $151,000 per year. city officials say they are constantly evaluating

employee pay, evaluating against what? ashley: exactly. shibani: and keeping balance between finding good employees and guarding the city's fiscal health. no wonder no one ever quit as city job. ashley: you know who is evaluating their pay in california? jerry brown. what the heck. shibani: i need a pay raise. ashley: nike meantime suspending the contract of oscar pistorius after the athlete was accused of killing his girlfriend. so when should companies stand by troubled celebrities and when should they just cut and run? we'll have that next. shibani: but first take a look how 10 and 30-year treasurys are faring at the moment. friday night, buddy.

you are gonna need a wingman. and my cash back keeps the party going. but my airline miles take it worldwide. [ male announcer ] it shouldn't be this hard. with creditcards.com, it's easy to search hundreds of cards and d apply online. creditcards.com. >> i'm adam shapiro with your fox business brief. a round of mixed reports on the u.s. economy is taking a toll on the markets today. right now the dow is down roughly 70 points. according to the mortgage bankers association the mortgage delinquency rate during the fourth quarter hit the lowest level since 2008. the delinquency rate covers loans at least one payment past due but in the foreclosure process. the federal trade commission is warning of new type of cramming of unauthorized fees in phone bills, showing up as real charges on credit card statements. one big culprit, ideal financial solutions.

the fcc complaint says they hit tens of thousands americans for fake fees for fake financial services. consumers were build $24 million without their consent. that is the latest from the fox business network, giving you the power to prosper.

ashley: the securities & exchange commission is the latest battleground over whether corporations must make additional disclosures of political contributions. our very own charlie gasparino joining us on the phone with an exclusive on this story. what have you found out, charlie? >> well, i mean this to me is, i can tell you, you talk to people in, at the big banks, at the u.s. chamber of commerce, this is getting pretty scary. in april the sec, the securities & exchange commission is set to decide on a new rule that forces corporations to go even further to disclose their contributions. what this essentially is

going to do, any contribution that a corporation, dell, jpmorgan, you name it, makes to a outside group, a trade group, like the u.s. chamber, will have to be disclosed in a really specific way. how did this come about? well the sec has been bombarded with comment letters from advocacy groups calling for these additional disclosures and here's a wild number that i never heard before, i think it is a record. the sec has received close to 500,000 letters in favor of this increased exposure. these letters have largely come, here is the kicker, from advocacy groups. who are the advocacy groups? left-of-center advocacy groups with close ties to the white house, places like afscme and other union organizations. here is what the bottom line is, guys, we'll be reporting more on this today. you saw yesterday, afscme, the american federation of state and county munition

approximately employees, is essentially a union with big pension funds for employees, they want jpmorgan to split up the chairman and ceo role. they want jamie dimon to relinquish it. there is effort by advocacy groups, to turn process of wall street, namely the proxies process, where you are supposed to write in complaints rand get companies to do certain things allegedly to help shareholders but they're taking that process and they're politicizing it. what are they looking for? disclosures. why do they care about the u.s. chamber giving money? it is simple. the u.s. chamber of commerce oh poses a lot of issues supported by the obama administration. they were a huge opponent to obamacare. if you can get dell to tell you, tell everybody how much it is giving to the chamber which is opposing obamacare, you can protest dell on that one issue. that is what the chamber worries about. what we have right knew is the sec right in the middle of it.

we should point out that mary schapiro met with a lot of advocacy groups over last couple years. she is out. mary jo white is in or still needs to be confirmed. what people will tell me this is the first big major regulatory issue mary jo white takes up. do they actually propose a rule. they have to pass it. they have to put it out for comment. ashley: right. >> do they go in that step? it will be pretty big. corporate america is starting to get worried. when you go to the sec to pass stuff like that it is different than going through the proxy process which as you know is piecemeal. ashley: charlie gasparino, all over it. thank you very much. interesting indeed. appreciate it. shibani: thank you, charlie. not to mention the costs associated with additional filings. ashley: sure. shibani: it is almost a quarter till. as we do every single day and every 15 minutes as well, let's check the markets. nicole petallides is on the floor of the new york stock exchange. you're looking at a retailer, michael kors. what is the stock doing now? >> very busy post at 9:30

a.m. it took a minute to actually get it open because of a secondary offering. we see the stock down 3.2%. it has been moving to the downside all day long. they issued new shares. some investors were looking to cash in. the stock is up about 50% over the last 52 weeks. one. people we should note offering up their stock is michael kors himself. the company's honorary chairman and chief creative officer. his stock, his stake drops down to 2.4% from 3.9%. back to you. shibani: big payday. mixed signals about insider selling. that is leading to the selloff there. thanks a lot, nicole. ashley: nicole, thank you. nike is the latest sponsor to suspend its ads featuring olympic runner and alleged killer oscar pistorius. this a week after the sneaker company pulled an ad featuring the south african sprinter featuring a phrase, i am the bullet in the chamber.

unfortunate. diane macedo is here. >> nike and oakley announced they suspended their sponsorship contracts with oscar pistorius what may seem like a bit of deja vu. few months ago the same two companies severed ties with lance armstrong amid his massive doping scandal. with pistorius facing murder charges against his girlfriend. that can get very tricky. matt mcdonald of jwt new york told me timing is key. consumers don't confuse actions of celebrity in trouble with the actions of the brand unless the brand drags its feet. brand don't want to preemptively indict celebrities. nike said yesterday, we believe oscar pistorius should be afforded due process and we'll continue to monitor the situation closely. keep in mind brand don't always part ways with celebrities in trouble. nike stood by tiger woods after his massive scandal and resigned with michael vick after his doug fighting

trouble. the key is that the brand has to folk not on perfection but being truthful and human. that of course is subjective. it will be interesting to see how the rest of pistorius's sponsors handle this. he has a very long list. so far only a handful came out publicly on this. if they all drop him he reportedly stands to lose nearly two million dollars a year. back to you. ashley: that's a lot. wait and see i guess what the word is there. nike pulling its --. shibani: a lot of trouble at nike, with armstrong and now this, right? ashley: they're probably wondering what is going on. diane, thank you. shibani: fighting back against cyber attacks, the white house outlining a strategy to fight cyber spying. we'll tell you how you can protect yourself, at home, at work today. ashley: and taxpayers, guess what? they're waiting for their tax refund checks. you may have to keep on waiting. we'll explain why coming up. ♪ all stations come over to mission a for a final go.

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shibani: well over a dozen u.s. companies have fallen victim to cyber attacks recently. everyone from apple to twitter. now the white house is threatening trade action against countries responsible but what can we do to protect ourselves and our information right now? here to tell us is curt baumgartner. senior securities researcher. he joins us from denver. great to have you on today, kurt, i want to start off by asking you, we've seen the largest string of cyber attacks that i can recall in recent history. is it they're happening more often or is it because we're

knowing about them because who is involved? >> when you talk about twitter, apple and facebook, they were all hit by the same attackers. that is significant in itself. i don't think the volume or frequently is necessarily increasing all that much, however, i think that public disclosure of the incidents and breaches is on the rise. shibani: something i talked about yesterday, kurt, was that juf have was a common entry point for many of these attacks. how does something so simple get by these very sophisticated companies? >> well, you know, on the, on the facebook and apple, the twitter side, these guys are visiting web sites that are fairly predictable or kind of giveaway what is on their desk. so they're using osx. they're using java. these guys are developing for a very niche set of mobile phones and the java is designed specifically to

attack those individuals visiting the web sites. so knowing that these guys are using these systems, probably using the safari browser, it becomes a little more easier to gain access to their systems. shibani: so what does that say for individual security? i mean my, my concerns were only heightened after learning that these big, tough, security companies, technology companies, even they aren't immune. so what is a little guy, an individual to do in light of all of this? >> well, you know, we can break it down to a few reasons why people are being attacked. there's financial gain and that's usually what consumers are being attacked for. there is industrial, geopolitical and intellectual cyber espionage going on. finally there is political hack at that vism. consumers, little guys hit by watering hole attacks. you can do a few things. there is traditional anti-virus that receives a lot of criticism but at the

same time really does quite a bit of attacks going on. people can use traditionally these. they can make sure all of their software is patched, staying up to date. they should use strong passwords policies, they should use a firewall. all those things will help. shibani: before we let you go, kurt, china is source point for many attacks has come up time and again. is china the area we need to focus our eyeballs on or do we need to take a much wider global stance here? >> i'm more on the technical side of things. i think we uncovered red october. we uncovered all sorts of attacks from all over the world and there is something that needs to be done. i don't know exactly who is going to respond or negotiate first, but something definitely needs to be done at a higher level here. shibani: kurt, the white house just proposed some sort of penalties for sigher attacks. we'll see if that makes any

impact. kurt baumgartner of kaspirsky labs. thanks for being on the show today. >> thank you. ashley: somehow i don't think china will blink first. something tells me. this is a story i'm sure will touch a nerve or two. if you're wondering where your tax refund is, you're not alone, the irs website, where's my refund, good question, overloaded from taxpayers trying to access their returns, causing the website to literally freeze. now the site, which is new this year has been so swamped, the irs is asking people not to visit the site more than just once a day. they say it is only updated every 2 hours anyway. taxpayers who file returns electronically and sign up for direct deposit typically receive a refund in 21 days for less. that is according to the irs. apparently not fast enough for some antsy taxpayers. shibani: this is example of good technology going bad. the irs trying to make things more transparent and less technical and ends up

backfiring because they didn't think the whole thing through. ashley: god bless the irs. shibani: not surprising with the irs. coming up in the next hour, questioning the french work ethic. the head of a u.s. firm tells the french government where to shove it, basically. he would be crazy to set up shop in that country. gerri willis joins us with the details and tells us what this outspoken ceo thinks of our own government. you will not want to miss that. [ male announcer] surprise -- you're having triplets. [ babies crying ] surprise -- your house was built on an ancient burial ground. [ ghosts moaning ] surprise -- your car needs a new transmission. [ coyote howls ] how about no more surprises? now you can get all the online trading tools you need without any surprise fees. ♪ it's not rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade.

shibani: welcome back, everyone. i'm shibani joshi. ashley: and i'm ashley webster. stocks falling on disappointing data from the philly fed and concerns maybe the fed, may be getting ready to pull the plug on stimulus. so is the rally over? we'll tell you how to make money either way. shibani: very important news you don't want to miss. the ceo of a u.s. tire company blasts the french for their work ethic. the problem is he not all that optimistic about our

own government either. ashley: throw all the bums out. your gas and electric bill could be headed higher. we'll tell you why you could fit the bill for new upgrades to infrastructure. the dow is off 72 points. we've been in the same range for a while. let's go to nicole petallides at the floor of the new york stock exchange as we do every 15 minutes. still a lot of red on the screen, nicole. >> there is lot of red. when you talk about market breadth, we're seeing the down volume clearly outpacing the up volume. you could have a down arrow on the major indeex but even up and down volume. in this case thedown volume is 330 million, versus 84 million for up movers. the nasdaq composite is down 1.2%. we've gotten in weak economic news. you mentioned lousy philly fed numbers. industrials are affected by the numbers on top of the fact we got in our weekly jobless claims. not good news. more claims than expected. the first time in a few

weeks we've seen that. also cpi came in as well. caterpillar down 2 1/2%. deere down 1 1/2%. these are big global companies that. is something else that factors into these markets, the global economy concerns about europe. a strong dollar. just the fact that monetary easing not only here at home but also abroad gives you that false feeling and obviously boosts these markets and maybe taken away. they may be pulled back. back to you. ashley: nicole, thank you very much. >> it is the question of the hour is the market rally over? is there still more to come? the markets are pulling back on worries that the fed may put an end to its easy money policy but wells fargo chief portfolio strategist says there are areas investors can make money even what happens. there is lot of questioning what is happening with the markets. we're seeing a pull back, our biggest since november. my question to you is, is

this a temporary pullback or have we topped out as a market? >> i think this is just a temporary pullback. i would be looking to buy on the dips in this particular situation. really if you think about some of the fundamentals they haven't changed materially. even if the federal reserve will not be providing as much liquidity as people originally thought they would i think the fundamentals are there in terms of corporate profit growth and global economic growth to really support the equity markets going forward. i'm not surprised we have a little bit of a pullback here. i see this as opportunity to take on a little bit more risk than opposed to running for the hills. ashley: brian, how concerned are you because of headwinds always been out there? europe is starting to kick up. pmi out of the region was awful. auto sales are falling off a cliff. greeks are striking again. that is just europe. consumers hit by higher gas prices, payroll tax hike, it goes on and on. how concerned are you that this economy is really is kind of stuck in neutral?

>> there is lot of sort of limping along here with the economies but it seems like. that is mainly in the developed world. that is mainly in the united states and europe. what i like to do forecasting a global net, looking for investment opportunities. i think despite the slowdown in europe and the slowdown in the united states these are somewhat temporary occurrences and that it's not necessarily fundamentally changing things that are taking place in the emerging markets. there is a lot of reforms in mexico that i think are very positive for their markets. that's an area that i like. in china they're going to be having another congress or, i'm sorry, they will have new leadership really take control in march. there is the possibility for fiscal stimulus there. i think there are some good opportunities but you have to look globally for them. shibani: what else are you liking specifically here in the united states? i know that you perceive as a temporary pullback. so what can we buy right now as we wait for the markets to decide themselves? >> well i think that there's really three main areas that i like. i like energy stocks. i like health care stocks.

and i like technology stocks. not necessarily information technology stocks. i do like some of them but technology broadly defind, just those businesses involved in helping other businesses produce things more efficiently, with fewer resources. let's face it. the cost of hiring somebody has gone up, whether it is due to health insurance costs going up or because of taxes or what have you. so as a result, i think that businesses are going to be looking at making more investments in property, plant and equipment as opposed to workers. and as a result, i want to really be investing in those businesses that are in the business of helping others do more with less. ashley: what have the earnings told you, brian? it seems to me that the bar is set so low the market seemed to cheer when the estimates are beaten, but those estimates, i don't know how you can cheer something that is easy to attain if you like? as for the guidance from these earnings reports, it is not that great, is it? >> that's correct. the guidance isn't really all that great but it is not

as bad as a lot of people were thinking it would be. one thing i have to point out. you're absolutely right saying it is not that hard to beat these low estimates. ashley: yeah. >> about 62% of the time businesses actually beat the earnings per share estimates. which means analysts tend to be a little too optimistic or pessimistic when they're coming up to earnings season. what is really important businesses are beginning to beat on the top line in terms of revenue growth. that's something we haven't really seen all that much of. this past quarter as we're getting through earnings season we're seeing 70% of businesses are actually beating the estimates for revenue growth. and that is the key thing to really be watching for. shibani: it sure is, brian. thank you very much for your time today. nice to see you. >> thank you. ashley: thank you, brian. all right. here's a question, will jon corzine finally be punished for the loss of $1.6 billion in investor money at mf global? liz macdonald is here with more. will mr. corzine be banned

for live from futures trading? what is the latest. >> the national futures association is having a hearing. two board members are putting forth a proposal to ban him for life. the breaking news right now is that the board meeting is hung up because the nfa board is concerned. they don't want to cross wires with other probes into jon corzine. in other words the nfa would have to have a hearing where jon corzine would come in. that may run counter to what efforts are underway at places like the cftc. behind the push to ban jon corzine for live from futures trading is what the two board members are saying. they don't want him hanging out a shing fell and getting investor money in the future -- shingle. regulators to date have not enforced anything against jon corzine. he is not under sanctions. he has not been charged with anything. we want to hold him accountable. there has to be consequences. a cftc official told fox business, look at this, it is closely watching the

national futures association board meeting. look at the second point. i don't see the cftc overturning a decision by the ffa to ban jon corzine for live from futures trading. as of this hour it is a still a developing story. they are still in a meeting whether or not to ban him for life. the other news coming out too, basically the nfa has banned for life dozens of traders since 2008. ashley: we have from corzine? >> corzine's people gotten back to fox business. there is no comment. the sec has not commented whether they would ban him from securities trading. they want this to be impediment. he would have to be basically stopped. he would have to disclose to future investors or regulators that he was banned for life by the nfa if he tries to manage money in the future. shibani: he is trying to start a hedge fund? >> that is what the word is. they would have to have a hearing and nfa probe. that is what the issue is. ashley: emac, appreciate it. coming up we'll make money

with charles payne. we'll check on the performance of a stock he recommended just last month. so how, did he do? shibani: we'll check in on that. president obama has been pounding the table about $85 billion in imminent budget cuts. why is he pushing a new spending project at the same time? we're going to have the details from washington. first as we do at the same time every day let's take a look at the price of precious metals. a lot downward pressure. gold, silver, copper, all turning lower fractionally [ engine revving ]

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you are gonna need a wingman. and my cash back keeps the party going. but my airline miles take it worldwide. [ male announcer ] it shouldn't be this hard. with creditcards.com, it's easy to search hundreds of cards and apply online. creditcards.com. ashley: look at the dow. continuing to slip near session lows, off 90 points. we're down in the same range, 70, 75 points. we're slipping a little bit more. down 90 points on the day. the philly fed number not exactly great. look at price of oil trading lower. off $2.30. we talked to phil l phil --

phil flynn at cme. when will they be seen at the pumps? up to 3.77 for national average. out west in california. it is well over four bucks. always takes a long time for a, to kick in. shibani: as we wait for gas prices to lower, the markets are lower let's make money right now. charles payne joining us right now. he is joining us looking at a stock in the outsourcing services area, very sexy. >> very sexy. ashley: you need to get out more. >> this morning i thought i would come on and take a victory lap but it pulled back. see you guys later. this, i did it with ashley and tracy and on january 9th. it was 53. it hit 59 this morning t made a real good move it is pull back down. even with companies with

good moves this selloff is starting to hit everyone. i wouldn't be too worried if people are in the stock. they have great earnings. they beat the street by eight cents. if you want to quibble the gross margin was down 60 basis points. at 71.6 that is extraordinarily healthy. i was impressed with management 2013 outlook. for this quarter they could see as much as 64 million on the topside. the street is at 58. earnings per share at 71 cents. street is looking at 65 cents. one of these things where i think a lot of people will really, there will be a lot of anxiety, if you're holding stocks that are up right now, and you like the company a lot, do you let it pull back? do you let the stock pull back. shibani: right. >> it is something i grapple with all the time, particularly dealing with the general public. peel are happy when it goes straight up. as soon as they lit a little bump in the road they get a little nervous. shibani: what are you tell your clients right now? are you buying, holding or selective. >> we were 25% cash going into the week. we had a huge run.

some we'll let run. we were up big, 12%. now i'm break even on it. some names you have to hang in there. if you looked under the hood and believe in the fundamentals not just if you had a hunch with a cousin with the same first name, that kind of thing. shibani: i need to reevaluate my stock picking. >> the tip at watercooler last year. ashley: stick with it, baby. thanks very much, charles payne. we have breaking news for you. united continental saying it is taking the boeing 787, the so-called dreamliner out of its schedule through june 5th. boeing is saying --, you see the stock of united moving lower. boeing was planning to get together with the faa to talk about a fix to the problem with the battery on board the 787 dreamliner. so united continental saying we're taking these planes out of our scheduled through june 5th. shibani: the story continues. >> it is quarter past. we know what that is, time to check the markets. nicole petallides on the floor of the new york stock exchange where we go every 15

minutes. nicole, starting to slide a little lower now. >> i was noticing that, ashley. a moment ago we were down about 90 points. so we're accelerating a little selling to the downside on a day where the vix moved to newer highs we haven't seen in sometime. look at two movers. we're looking wal-mart and also verifone. i'm peeking over my shoulder which is where it trades. wal-mart talked about sales. they're concerned about consumer sentiment. they're concerned that consumers are being hit in the wallet with higher gasoline prices coupled with the fact that payroll taxes hit everybody's paycheck. wal-mart is higher. it is up 2%. they raised their dividend 18%. we have to quickly get to the credit card swipe machine company verifone. forecast fourth quarter profit that will be below the analyst estimates. this is down dramatically, down 42%. ashley: wow indeed. nicole. we'll be back in 15 minutes. shibani: a big loss there. we're just over a week away

from 85 billion bucks in automatic spending cuts yet the president is pushing a big new spending project. so what does this mean in the way of tax hikes? we've got the answer. ashley: you're not going to want to hear it. we'll look at how the u.s. dollar is moving. it has been strong of late. fix mixed against the foreign currencis. we'll be right back.

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>> 20 minutes past the hour right now. hi, everybody, i'm jamie colby. this is your fox news minute and there is powerful winter storm that is already dumping as much as a foot of snow on the nation's midsection and it is a mix of snow, sleet, freezing rain, a real mess, moving through colorado, missouri, kansas and nebraska. forecasters expect the storm to head north toward chicago tomorrow. police are in three states searching for the black range rover involved in a bun battle on the las vegas strip that left three dead and three injured. police are saying a the range rover and maserati exchanged gunfire early this morning. the maserati crashed into a taxicab at the corner of las vegas boulevard and flamingo on the strip. taxicab driver and passenger were killed and the range rover was gone by the time

police arrived. a car bomb injured more than 200 in damascus. it struck near president assad's baath party headquarters. it is the third day of attacks by rebels in the syrian capitol. back to shibani and ashley. shibani: jamie colby, thanks again. we're just days away from $85 billion in automatic spending cuts. yet president obama at the same time announcing a plan to spend $50 billion for infrastructure spending. i don't get it. this would be possibly the largest spending project since the 2009 stimulus. peter barnes is here with the details. hopefully can make some sense of this. although from the look of his face i'm not quite -- >> well, shibani and ashley, this looks like it is on the bridge to know where, remember that? the $50 billion for new infrastructure spending would include $10 billion for a infrastructure bank. the president telling a boston tv station yesterday, quote, we want to see if we

can leverage private dollars into the process so that taxpayers don't foot the whole bill. the president will release specifics on this proposal and others in his budget next month. supporters say a infrastructure bank could raise billions for road, bridge and rail projects from private investors through government guaranties of debt it issues but house republican majority leader eric cantor has dismissed the bank as quote, a fannie and freddie for roads and bridges. fiscal conservatives including republican chairman of the house transportation committee, bill shuster, oppose financing new infrastructure projects with more deficit spending. >> lawmakers across the aisle recognize we have a spending problem. increased federal spending with no spending offsets or a way to pay for it. remember we don't need a tax increase. this is the wrong solution. it will only add to the deficits. it will not result in the kind of economic growth that wee need through aggregate job creation.

>> capital alpha partners here in washington, d.c. says that three stocks that might benefit from any infrastructure deal include granite construction, vulcan materials, and caterpillar. guys, back to you. shibani: all right, thanks. there is a stock play in that. we like that peter barnes. thanks very much. ashley: here's a question. should utilities be able to charge customers up front for costly upgrades to aging infrastructure like pipelines and power grids? well that's what a handful of states are considering. my next guest says, that is good policy. joining us now, the managing director at clear view energy partners. christine, thank you for being here. as it normally works. the utility, gets authorization, makes all the dup grades and collects from the customers. you're saying that is not the best idea. maybe customers should give a little now so the shock down the road isn't as big. is that the nearry. >> certainly that one of the things under consideration. if you wait to allow a

utility to recover their costs until the infrastructure goes into service, then certainly you've create ad, an incentive for them not to dali around. but if you're going to ask a relatively small utility to undertake something very big, let's say, a city or a state has decided that they really want to replace all of the 100-year-old cast iron infrastructure that carries natural gas to consumers, then that might be something a lot bigger than that utility is actually built for. and by allowing that utility to collect some, not by no means all, but some of those costs, it will help bring undo the cost of capital for a project that probably far, seeds the balance sheet of that utility. so there can be a tradeoff that might be a win-win for consumers. ashley: this already has been done in some places, isn't it? and has it been successful? >> well, i certainly think so. one of the first areas you saw it happen was in 1996. pennsylvania started doing its distribution system investment charge and what

that did was allow the local utilities to increase rates a little bit and it allow them to bring more quickly execute an upgrade of the water delivery system. and that has actually worked very well. 11 states have those programs now and it got picked up very quickly on the natural gas delivery side. so one of the things to keep in mind that some, not all, but some smaller utilities in particular can really help meet the needs of their customers by having the opportunity to recover at least enough to manage the financing sooner. ashley: right. consumer advocates will say, look, okay, we understand that down the road we could actually save money. we don't have to pay as much because of better interest rates on loans and so on but they're also worried this could lead to being nickeled and dimed to death? >> certainly, anything that is not managed properly can go out of control. the truth is, is the utility commission doing its job in working with the utility to manage this? i mean you look at what

these things are called. they're called trackers. the idea is that you go back and true up and you see whether or not the costs are where they're supposed to be, whether or not the agreements struck between the regulator and the utility are being adhered to. this is not like some willy-nilly you're allowed to go shopping at the malls to your heart's content. what it is, it is a different type of cooperation between the utility and its regulator in order to facilitate cash flows that benefit all consumers. ashley: they still have to get permission from the commission. >> absolutely. ashley: very interesting. christine tezak clear view energy partners. we appreciate it. >> thank you. shibani: we have breaking news now. we're watching shares of come you wear. the stock had been halted but back up and trading up two.6%. there are reports that comp you wear is explore compuware stock is halted. we're hearing as a trend in

computing industry. a little later we're hear from hewlett-packard. there is talk what it could do in going private way. seems to be a trend. ashley: get away from the microscope of wall street. shibani: settle the score. get buttoned up under more private lend. the questioning of the french work ethic, that is something we're talking about after the head of a u.s. firm tells the french government he would be crazy to set up shop in that country. ashley: so they're thrilled with those comments. let's look at some of today's winners and losers on the s&p. the dow is still off 90 points. but we do have winners on the s&p. we'll be right back. all stations come over to mission a for a final go. this is for real this time. step seven point two one two.

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tracy: it is half past the hour. taking a look at the dow 30 right now. we are back off the session lows. there are only six names in the dow 30 that are positive. let's head to the floor of the new york stock exchange. nicole petallides is standing by. nicole: we were just chatting about apple. you were talking about the stock that has broken down here. what do you think? >> from a technical standpoint, apple has broken down. it would not pay too much for that stock to be trading down around that 350 range. nicole: there are people who are having a heart attack when you say that.

when they sell apple at $700 in september and now is breaking down below 400. >> yes, sadly. it has broken down. nicole: david einhorn, you guys know he just really wants more shareholder value. back to you. >> thank you very much, no cool. ashley: this story has been getting a lot of play. criticizing the work ethic of france. maurice taylor. i told the french union workers this to their faces and they told me that is the french way. i am sure our next guest has

more on that. gerri willis, host of "the willis report." gerri: the ceos nickname is the griz. he is the minister of transforming ministry. they know they have a problem over there. they are trying to fix it. here are the other things that he said. he is like, there is no way i am buying this. forget about it. how stupid do you think we are? left right and center, this is a plant that goodyear ran for years until they just finally

could not get people to work there. shibani: they are enhancing u.s. relations on top of that. ashley: there is almost a little bit of pride there. compare that to the german workers who are incredibly hard-working. gerri: generation after generation passing down. not in france. i think he is worried about the u.s. government having some of the same problems. let me tell you, though, the french bashed back. extreme insulting was the reaction to what taylor had to say. the union said that taylor should be in a psychiatric ward. [ laughter ] gerri: there is your quote right there. we are going to have him on tonight. it will be a very interesting

interview. was there a sense of urgency among the workers? ashley: there is no comparison between france and the work ethic here. shibani: gerri willis, you cannot miss that interview right here on fox business. ashley: let's take a look at oil. closing down. there we are. closing down with a strong dollar. phil flynn at the cme. down another $2.38. connell: hewlett-packard expected to report a sharp drop. ashley: first, as we do at this time every day, let's take a

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shibani: hewlett-packard reporting earnings after the bell today. expected to post a loss in the first quarter.

for more now on hp, we are joined by jason rowland. great to have you on for a little preview. there was not a a lot to be enthused about. margin pressure, revenue dipped lines across the business. gimme something to be optimistic about. >> things cannot get much worse for hp. the industry does seem to be getting better. as the economy gets better globally, hp should participate in that. shibani: what is the timeframe and that? what does your lens and tell you terms of timeframe? >> it will take years for hp to turn around about half of the business i operating profit. they are declining.

other areas of hp's business are not as focused. it will take a long time to turnaround this company. over $100 billion in revenue there. that does not happen overnight. shibani: is this company better spent doing all of this reorganization under or of a private environment versus staying in the public eye? what are your thoughts on that? >> it is a fair question. hp is a lot bigger than those firms. shibani: the pieces of it are reasonable. >> it certainly is. i would like to see hp try to succeed as they are today. that certainly is an option for bag down the road. shibani: what you think needs to

be front and center? >> sure. the area that we are most focus on is the enterprise group were networking, storage, server comes together. that is the area where there is a secular tailwind. data centers are getting bigger and more dense. the most breath of any company in tax. we would like to see extra focus and the enterprise groups specifically. shibani: a large task in hand. thank you very much for being with us today. stay tuned with fox business. a lot to look forward to. ashley: it cannot get any worse. appetizing, the canary in the

coal mine for business spending. a birds eye view. dennis kneale spoke with the ceo today. a very interesting guy. he is very tuned in. dennis: yes, he is, ashley. the empire includes legendary names and advertising. they show for icon brands. they cite for gray swamp that could cut either way for the global economy this year. the euro zone meltdown, the china slowdown and the mideast loa. sir martin told me this morning that the deficit showdown may be the most worrisome one. >> we just kicked the can down

the road. whichever way is the feasible way. simpson bowles or whatever. that one has gotten blacker, not wetter. dennis: china showing real signs of rebound. his business there is -- the french in an uproar over the ceo of a u.s. tire maker that bashed him for low wages. isn't that guy pretty much right? >> it is tough in france. it is not just france, to be fair. the uk and germany. the great thing about the u.s. labor market is it is extremely flexible. highly competitive. dennis: europe is not. this man is smooth. shibani: he got the last word

and with dennis kneale. it is a quarter till. time for stocks now. nicole petallides. nicole: wanting to take a look at two names. first, take a look at sony. playstation for in time for the holidays. no word on how much it will cost. there will be a new xbox coming out this summer. sony down 3.5%. then we talk about safeway. the second largest supermarket chain here in the united states. they do have a new loyal specialty program. shibani: sony playstation4 was the weirdest thing. i am reading tens of thousands

of gamers waiting and watching. nothing. all you got was a joystick. ashley: the housing market. it turned a corner, yes. a few key factors holding it back from a full-blown recovery. shibani: as he had to break, let's take it and look at a few winners on the nasdaq. ♪ did you know not all fiber is the same? citrucel is different- it's the only fiber for regularity that won't cause excess gas. it's gentle and clinically proven to help restore and maintain regularity.

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ashley: sales of previously owned homes edged up slightly last month. the lowest level in 13 years. the low inventory is driving up prices and holding back sales. joining me now chief economist at nationwide financial. i am struck by the incredibly low level of homes available on the market. inventory sitting all-time lows. >> it is low because people who normally would be putting their homes on the market are underwater, some of them. the job market is still weak. people who put their homes on the market to move to another city, there are not as many as those.

perhaps, they are not putting their homes on the market right now. a lot of the homes have been taken off the market by investors who have fixed them up and sold them or more likely fix them up and have them rented out now. ashley: on the upside, the lack of homes is helping to support prices. once we get back to a so-called normal scenario, prices will actually drop. >> i do not think prices will drop. prices will be determined locally. i think we will see price gains moderate. that moderation may not come until later this year or next year. at some point, prices will slow from unsustainable pace of the last year.

ashley: could you argue that the national price is rising? artificially enthused the national average. >> even if you try to correct for that low-end homes are selling as well. ashley: what about access to credit. it is great to have these historically low mortgage rates. how hard is it to get a mortgage from a bank these days? >> it is pretty darn hard. bernanke talked about this in december. one of the things that we look at is the bed senior loan officer survey. one of the questions is, have you eased or tightened your

standards for mortgages? today, they are clearly holding people back. credit worthy people. we are far too tight today. there are a lot of credit worthy households that are finding it difficult to get a loan. ashley: are beginning to the vast number of foreclosures and investment properties? >> we are. the shadow inventory is still there and much larger that we would like to see. it is much less. new foreclosures are coming down. the credit system, the housing market is healing. it needed to heal a lot. it is much better now than at any time we have seen. ashley: it will just take a while. thank you very much. appreciate it. >> happy to be here.

shibani: the markets may be down today. good news for gold. how can you make your portfolio shine? sandra smith is taking a look at this in today's trade. sandra: that was just the pit trading session. we are seeing gold trending lower. it did get a little bit of relief in today's session. no one is really getting too excited about that. year to date lows. 2013 lows yesterday. sellers have been beating up on gold. we are $25 below what they are. $1500, that would be a game changer for gold. we are not there yet. gold year to date is now down about 6%. gold and silver, silver is down 5% so far this year. he has options coming due. because of the holiday, options

expiration is the 25th. he says we are already starting to see that today. you are already seeing this playoff. those metal stocks, shibani and ashley, they continue to get beat up as a result of this selloff. shibani: just what the market needs, or volatility. thank you very much. ashley: cheryl casone will be taking us through the last hour of trading. she has the head of playstation. they will be talking about playstation four. is it a threat to microsoft's xbox? "countdown to the closing bell" is next. ♪

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